Years ago, I would never had thought in my wildest imagination that I would get to the point in my life where I am now. You see, being a happy human being I repeatedly say: “I live the life that I love” and that’s the reason I’m writing this post. I’m amazed of what I could achieve with my life and career. I do not need to inspire anybody. I am inspired.
As we all know, every good story has a beginning somewhere and so does mine. This event I am about to uncover influenced me tremendously and changed the course of my life for good. I’ve never revealed it publicly before because I thought it did not bring any value. I never wanted to publish anything my readers wouldn’t benefit from. Anyway, when I looked back at my life, I realised that it really started right there in May, 2009 in Cracow, Poland. Let me tell you about it instead of building more tension. Just get comfortable and relax now . . .
Google Serve
Back in 2009, Google organised a social program called Google Serve where they were inviting people from local orphanages and other public institutions for kids with a difficult upbringing. The goal was to teach and educate them in technology. Unfortunately, I don’t know whether this program still exists or not.
Now, for an orphan teenager (those of you who do not know my story yet. Yes, I grew up in an orphanage) it was a life changing experience. The course lasted a month taking place at Google’s headquarters in Cracow, Poland and every week I got to learn and observe my great mentors from Google. When I entered the building for the first time I was awestruck right away. I mean, they had this fancy light switch, when one clapped his hands it would go on/off. They had free food and drinks as well as lots of games to entertain themselves. I thought, gee, that’s amazing… just imagine, you work and you get to play games at the same time. Believe me, such a stimulus for a poor kid that had literally nothing was incredibly powerful.
Building the good life from the ground up
Ever since I left this course, I promised myself that I would not end up like most of the orphans and I started dreaming of working as a web developer. I felt a big hunger and I saw a big chance for myself in the quickly growing technology industry. Before it became a real obsession of mine, I had to really pick up on learning and find the best ways to build new habits. These are my foundations now, I am proud of the habits that keep me going whenever I am on the downward spiral.
I think, back then a few years ago, it was the most difficult period of my life. I didn’t believe in myself because of my upbringing and people around me. It’s striking how people around us influence the decisions we make and the image we project of ourselves. That’s why the poor gets poorer and the rich gets richer. It’s all in our mentality.
Anyways, I started with little changes and those compounded to yield tremendous results. I do not have enough space here to write about the harsh and sometimes scary lessons I went through. Nevertheless, luckily along the way I met people that offered guidance and always have believed in me to this very day. I’m most grateful for them. Whereas, those who said that I was not intelligent enough to do what I wanted and I should not delude myself – well, they gave me a chance to prove them wrong.
Conclusion
Finishing this article off, I hope that reading this text will allow you to realise how many valuable lessons one can take from it. I also think it’s not about how much we have but rather how we act and how we feel. One final advice I want to leave you with: never listen to the people who say you can’t do something. I have never listened to them and I ended up pretty well. I’m more ambitious and determined than ever because I discovered that my life is about providing value to others. It makes me super joyful. As one of my mentors says “Always do more than you get paid for”.